Romney starts duel on ‘apology tour’

By Alexander Burns

10/22/12 10:01 PM EDT

Nearly an hour into the debate, Mitt Romney finally deployed the catch phrase at the heart of his foreign policy message, charging that President Barack Obama embarked on an “apology tour” after taking office.

Dictators in places like Iran and North Korea, Romney alleged, “saw weakness where they had expected to find American strength” when Obama pledged as a candidate to meet with foreign despots.

“The president began what I have called an apology tour of going to various nations in the Middle East and criticizing America,” Romney said. “All of these things suggested, I think, to the Iranian mullahs that, you know, we can keep on moving along … It’s essential for a president to show strength from the very beginning.”

Obama responded, essentially: you lie!

“Nothing Gov. Romney just said is true, starting with the notion of me apologizing. This is probably the biggest whopper that’s been told,” Obama said, defending his Iran policy as “the toughest, most crippling sanctions ever.”

And by the way, he added, “while we were coordinating an international coalition … you were still invested in a Chinese state oil company that was doing business with the Iranian oil sector.”